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The Yonkage
The People's Republic of the Yonkage is a small country located on the remote Gimp Island in the Northern Pacific Ocean. It covers approximately 500 square miles of land and borders three other states with varying degrees of sovereignty. These are Koropistrano, Saint Kolekamore and Boxawadadu, and Costa Azul. The capital of the Yonkage is Kelänsen. In 2018 the census recorded a population of approximately 850,000. Currently the majority language of the Yonkage is English; roughly 95% of the population are native speakers. The country recently gained de facto independence from the United Kingdom following a protracted war of independence which only ended in 2015. Formal independence was obtained at the end of 2016 through the Treaty of Senkäla. History Prehistory Gimp Island was colonized by the ancestors of the present denizens of the Yonkage in the fifth century BCE. The migrants are presently believed to have originated in eastern Siberia; however, more research is needed. They made landfall in the southwestern region of Gimp Island, a region now known as the 'Western Reaches', and diverged into two separate groups. The first group clung to the southwestern shores of the island and fished in the rich seas. The secondary group moved inland and adopted an agricultural lifestyle. The two groups traded amongst themselves, but the rugged crags of the Western Reaches prevented any meaningful communication between the various valleys. Steady advancements in shipbuilding and the serendipitous development of the wheel allowed for the rise of trade routes during the seventh century CE, resulting in the connection of the three valleys the dominated the Western Reaches for the first time. Trade increased the rate of technological development, but population remained constant and little specialization of labor occurred, largely because of the harsh climate of the Western Reaches. Early History Sometime during the late tenth century CE a local rise in temperatures led to increased agricultural output and a surge in productivity of the fisheries. The brief warming period also witnessed the development of irrigation. While the meltwaters from the jagged mountains had already watered their crops, this development increased the effectiveness of farmers by as much as seventy percent. Shipbuilders were also able to invest more time in innovation and eventually created larger and more durable hulls that dramatically increased the rate of seafood production. The food surplus allowed for specialization of labor and increased technological development. Subsequently, the early eleventh century saw the first rise of Yonkastic Runes. The runic system rapidly spread throughout the three valleys. Along with the food surplus and the rise of specialized labor, the system of runes allowed for the creation of larger-scale settlements and eventually large city-states with complex governments. It is believed that the most populous city-states had populations of up to 120,000 people . The Classical Period (1250 CE - 1690 CE) However, the warming period did not last forever. Written records attest that temperatures had dropped back to pre-warming levels by 1250 CE. The resulting struggle for food and other resources ultimately led to what was referred to as the "Seventy Years' War". The war and the concurrent famine are believed to have led to the deaths of almost 150,000 people in a truly massive humanitarian conflict. The main consequence of the Seventy Years' War was the rise of the valley alliances. Literacy rates had soared during the previous century, allowing for the mass dissemination of information. In this case, the governments of city-states sponsored well-known authors to pen scathing denunciations of the "barbarians" from the other valleys. This phenomenon occurred in every city-state, and the denunciations make up the most well-known documentation of thirteenth and fourteenth century politics. Thus, the war, and the faction formation that it caused, resulted in the destruction of many city-states. Before the war, the Käl Valley had been occupied by the city-states of Toäk, Pelkän, Doäth, and Findäk. Only Toäk and Findäk survived the conflict. The Hest Valley saw an even greater level of destruction. Chelmüth, Onäth, Sendik, Kelänsen, Mengäk, and Kiländel marched inward from the sea before the war. Chelmüth and Kelänsen were the only city-states that persisted. In the Okth Valley, the city-states of Senkäla and Ethgäl both survived the war, but they lost their preeminent status. The surviving city-states eventually united under the reign of King Gälabänd of Kelänsen in 1345 CE. Gälabänd headed a monarchial government known as the Kingdom of Üthelküch /ʊθɛɫkʊt͡ʃ/. In the dialect of Yonkastic spoken by residents of the Hest valley, this literally means "Kingdom of the Reaches". The government of this kingdom was structured around three provinces. Each province occupied a single valley and paid tribute to the king in Kelänsen. Aside from that, the provinces were largely self-governed and the cities in those provinces even more so, except for Kelänsen, which was directly ruled by the king. This government was very stable and existed right up until the Europeans arrived in the late seventeenth century. European Rule (1700 CE - 1950 CE) The European arrival severely destabilized the Kingdom. European merchants were able to draw Senkäla, Chelmüth, and Toäk into a collection of free cities that were more open to trade. The resulting civil war pitted the interior cities against the coastal ones backed by Europeans and led to great loss of life and property. The Kingdom, significantly weakened, did not survive into the eighteenth century. European powers then formally annexed the Yonkage, with Britain, France, and the Netherlands seizing the Käl, Hest, and Okth valleys, respectively. For almost a century and a half, the Yonkage remained divided between the various European powers. However, the Napoleonic Wars saw France evicted from the Yonkage. Britain took the Hest valley from France. Affairs were largely stable until the end of the Second World War, when the Netherlands handed over its holdings in the Okth valley. The Yonkastic War of Liberation (1960 CE - 2015 CE) The British monopoly on power enabled them to ramp up their exploitation of the citizens of the Yonkage even as they trended in the opposite direction elsewhere. The result was yet another humanitarian catastrophe, with hundreds of thousands starving or being outright murdered. Subsequently, small-scale resistance cells sprung up in the countryside throughout the major valleys. During the 1960s and 70s, these cells spread into the major cities and quickly integrated themselves with the groups that were protesting the nuclear arms race. This relatively peaceful state of affairs continued until a fateful day in 1985 that saw the assassination of Dr. Nemek Ütollech, one of the more peaceful leaders in the fledgling independence movement. MI6 and Britain in general were immediately blamed. The next few years saw the eruption of a full-scale war as resistance groups in the city of Kelänsen incited civilians to seize the city. In a shocking success, the RAF airfield and adjacent army camp were seized by the rebels, granting them a significant leg up in the short term. As many in the Yonkage had learned to be excellent pilots over the course of the century due to the rugged nature of the country and fierce mountain storms, the fledgling Yonkastic Air Force was one of the most skilled in the world. A series of aggressive attacks allowed rebel forces to press their initiative and seize control of Chelmüth. However, British forces were still qualitatively and quantitatively superior. Air strikes decimated the rebel forces and the British army was able to retake Chelmüth. Kelänsen would remain in rebel hands for the duration of the war, however, due to the uncompromising nature of the rebel defense. A large portion of the rebel forces was also able to hide out in the rugged crags of the Western Reaches and gave the revolutionary forces a distinct advantage. In May of 1991 the leaders of the various rebel cells came together in a bunker outside of Kelänsen and drafted the Kelänsen Accords. This document created the Yonkastic Liberation Army, Navy, and Aerial Defense Forces, consolidated the various rebel cells into a single force, and appointed Pentäch Oliksten, a close confidant of Dr. Ütollech, as the figurehead of the rebel government. The next several years of fighting were fairly uneventful. The rebels were unable to liberate any other cities, but their control of the mountains allowed them to prevent the British from resupplying their forces in the interior. The matter had devolved into a guerrilla war. Ultimately the Yonkastic Liberation Army was much better suited to that type of conflict than their British adversaries, and they were able to liberate Findäk and Ethgäl in two devastating simultaneous attacks during September of 1999. Here the Yonkastic Liberation Army came to another snag, as the British were able to easily hold the coast against them. For over a decade, the conflict seemed to cool down, and the British began moving their forces away and making peace overtures. It was then that the Yonkastic Liberation Army launched a massive attack on all the coastal cities. British reinforcements arrived too late, and the entirety of the Western Reaches fell under Yonkastic hands. The next few years involved nothing more than a handful of skirmishes as token British forces attempted landings. Ultimately the British decided to move out of the Yonkage, and the Treaty of Senkäla was signed on November 17, 2015. Drafting the Constitution Geography The People's Republic of the Yonkage occupies the southwestern portion of Gimp Island, a region known as the Western Reaches. The Reaches are a rugged area, with jagged peaks separated by deep glacial valleys. Presently, all three of these valleys are occupied by rivers. From north to south, the valleys are the Käl, the Hest, and the Okth. These three valleys all originate as arms of Mount Ändoleth. Ändoleth is the highest mountain in the Yonkage, standing roughly 13,000 feet above sea level. The mountain, its satellites, and the upper reaches of the Käl and Hest valleys are all incorporated into the High Reaches National Park. No other parks exist in the Yonkage, but the vast tracts of rugged mountains and the highly compact and self-sufficient nature of the valleys mean that much of the country is undeveloped.